honky cracker: Jerome From Manhattan There are only three reasons why I'll willfully listen to sports radio. 1) The Red Sox have just done something either really, really good or extremely noteworthy. 2) The Yankees have just done something really, really bad or extremely noteworthy. 3) I'm in the car with Klutch.xls.
My brother, on the other hand, listened to WFAN day and night. He sleeps with the damn thing on. Has it on his room all day long. Loves the damn thing.
I bring this up because on Sunday, the Yankees reached an agreement with Roger Clemens on a one year deal with Roger Clemens for the prorated portion of a $28 million salary. Now, I'm not going to go into my Clemens thing here too much (personally, I'm fine with Clemens going to the Yankees, pitching 5-6 innings a start, and not helping the Yankees fill their most pressing need - their bullpen. Not to mention I can continue to root against him heartily.) Since this is a noteworthy event for both the Yankees and the Red Sox, I decided to tune into both WEEI in Boston and WFAN in New York for reaction.
(Side note, to listen to the unbelievable ridiculous announcement from Clemens himself to the fans at Yankee Stadium and the even more outrageous reaction from Yankee radio announcer Suzyn Waldman, click here.)
A friend of mine from another part of the internets, also a Red Sox fan, also decided to tune in to hear the fallout. Now, there wasn't anything remarkable about any of the coverage. (although it was fun to listen to Mike Francesa KILL Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman in an interview) At some point during the day, my friend asked me if I remembered a caller known as "Jerome from Manhattan".
Of course I remember Jerome from Manhattan. Back when I was visiting while in college, I'd get home late at night and my brother would have the FAN blaring. Jerome would ALWAYS call into the overnight show with Steve Somers or Joe Benigno, And the man was insane. He'd call the day after the Yankees win the World Series and start complaining about all the people who wouldn't be back next season and why the Yankees couldn't repeat.
Ah, Jerome from Manhattan. The memories.
So we searched around the interwebs for any classic Jerome nuggets, and eventually checked his Wikipedia page, which contains this gem:
"His relationship status is intriguing enough for Steve Somers to once give Jerome $60 to take a lady out on a date, only for Jerome to keep the money and not go out on the date"
Ah, Jerome.
As the article says, Jerome hasn't been able to call in regularly since he started having health problems in late 2004.
Late 2004. What happened in late 2004?
And sometimes I think I take this baseball stuff too seriously. Godspeed, Jerome. Get well soon. And get back on the air.
Two other things: 1) one time, several years ago, I was visiting a friend of mine in Providence. His roommate had a dog, a little dachshund named Chester. As I would lie down to go to sleep, Chester would run into the room and hump my face.
